The Economy

My Thoughts on the Economy
 
The state of the economy in Wisconsin is very complicated. It is related to a wide variety of issues including affordable health care, reasonable taxes and spending, and a protected environment. All of these issues work together and impact our economy. The creation and/or lose of jobs, a healthy manufacturing base, a strong service sector and improved buying and saving ability of the consumer drives our economy.
 
We live in a consumer and market driven society where the goals seem to be:

  • buy low, sell high
  • make a profit regardless of who is stepped on or what is done to our environment in the mean time.
  • reward those who can invest in the market
  • make a profit based on stocks that support companies regardless of how that company does business, where it is located, how they treat the workers and the environment.

The general goal in life is to have more. More money, more cars, more vacations, more clothes, more toys, more . . . You get the picture.
 
This appears to me to be a vicious cycle that will be hard to break. A typical Fox Valley consumer:

  • does not have a lot of extra income (it can be hard to make ends meet at the end of the month)
  • tends to look for and buy products that cost the least amount of money
  • buys at the lowest cost for clothing, home and school needs, clothing, shoes and food.
  • needs a car and the gas to run it
  • likes to have some money left over for relaxation like a movie or a night out

Many times we are not able to make ends meet so the credit cards are used or we buy on store credit. You have all seen the commercials telling us we can get furniture and cars for no money down and no interest for a long time. We end up buying more than we can afford more times than we can afford to.
 
In the process of buying at the lowest possible cost to us, we forget what hidden costs are included in the price of the item. In many instances we buy:

  • food, milk, meat that are highly subsidized by our government
  • cars from factories that get tax breaks for being built in a certain area
  • gas for our cars that comes from oil companies that have been given large amounts of tax credits even while they are making huge profits
  • tobacco that continues to be highly subsidized by the federal government
  • wood products that come out of National Forests at a profit to the wood products industry but a loss to our federal government
  • bottled water even though our tap water is generally very safe to drink

If the price of any of these items goes up we generally complain bitterly about the price hike but we don’t change our buying or spending habits. We continue to look for the lowest cost item and often spend beyond our income and we continue to be part of the rat race.
 
I think our buying and consuming habits have a tremendous impact on the manufacturing sector of the economy.

  • Consumers want low cost items.
  • Manufacturers want to make items as cheaply as possible, and maintain a high profit so they move the company to the location with the lowest cost for them.
  • Workers at the original place are left without work and a lower standard of living.
  • Workers in the new location have better jobs and a higher standard of living.

We are seeing this happen in almost all industries in our state and country.

  • Our textile mills, and clothes and shoes production plants are gone.
  • Our steel industry has moved.
  • Our automobile production and auto parts plants have moved or gone bankrupt.
  • Our farmland is being developed and our food comes from far away.

But we can buy most items at a perceived lower out of pocket cost.  Why are we not getting ahead?
 
I think we are not getting ahead because we are stuck in a vicious cycle. We will need a vigorous push and shove to get out of this cycle. We, the consumer need to:

  • drastically rethink our buying habits
  • focus on buying less and buying local when possible. If it is not possible we need to work to make it possible
  • look and ask for local products
  • demand safe cars that get 35 to 40 or more miles per gallon

We need to work together to stop this cycle of losing jobs, and spending more for less.
 
I think the state of Wisconsin can work to encourage sustainable development in the Fox Valley and at the same time improve and protect our environment and create jobs.

  • New technologies are available for saving energy costs in factories and homes. Those technologies can be developed here and used here saving energy and money in our homes and production processes.
  • We can plan our communities so we have access to locally grown food, produce and meat, in a market to which we can walk not drive.
  • We can plan our communities to protect and support farms rather than put a subdivision in the cornfield.

We can learn to spend the right amount of money for a well-made product, from a local industry when possible. We can learn to not spend beyond our means, including government spending, so we break the cycle of debt and credit. We can learn to save money and invest in companies that do take care of their workers and the environment. We, the consumers, have to take the first steps to make this happen. We probably cannot count on corporations or the government to do this for us. We can ask governments to also buy locally and conserve as much as possible. We can ask government to address and solve other problems that influence our economy like affordable health care, environmental protection, controlling spending and reforming taxes.
 
We, the consumers, the involved citizens, the heads of corporations, and the government, must work together to improve the current system. Each of us needs to be actively involved to make a change.
 
Penny Bernard Schaber
Candidate, Assembly District 57